How much does antivirus software cost in 2026? Prices of 15 suites
How much does antivirus cost? As of October 2026, the cheapest paid plan is Intego Mac Internet Security at $2.50 a month and the most expensive is Aura at $12, with a median of $4.17 (average $5.88), computed across the 15 suites with a paid plan out of the 19 products we compare. On the vendors’ own pages, read September 30, 2026, the renewal price sits on average 42.2% above the first year across the 7 vendors that print one (median 33.3%); the full list is in the Renewal Price Index.
Prices last checked on
Average per month
$5.88/mo
Median
$4.17/mo
Cheapest
$2.50/mo
Intego Mac Internet Security
With a paid plan
15
of 19 products compared
Antivirus prices, cheapest first
Each vendor’s cheapest paid plan, as shown on its own pricing page.
| # | Provider | Entry price | Renewal (per year) | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intego Mac Internet Security | $2.50/mo | $39.99 | +33.3% |
| 2 | Surfshark One | $2.79/mo | ||
| 3 | Webroot Essentials | $3.50/mo | not published | |
| 4 | Malwarebytes Premium | $3.75/mo | ||
| 5 | Avast One | $4.09/mo | $77.99 | +58.9% |
| 6 | G Data Total Security | $4.16/mo | $34.95 | -30% |
| 7 | Norton 360 Deluxe | $4.17/mo | $124.99 | +150% |
| 8 | ESET HOME Security | $4.17/mo | not published | |
| 9 | Bitdefender Total Security | $5.00/mo | $109.99 | +83.3% |
| 10 | Trend Micro Maximum Security | $6.25/mo | not published | |
| 11 | F-Secure Total | $7.08/mo | $84.99 | 0% |
| 12 | TotalAV | $8.25/mo | $99 | 0% |
| 13 | Kaspersky Premium | $10.00/mo | ||
| 14 | LifeLock | $10.42/mo | not published | |
| 15 | Aura | $12.00/mo | not published |
The paid average leaves free tiers out. Entry price: cheapest paid plan per month from our catalogue snapshot of October 2026. Renewal and increase: the plan we track per vendor, as printed on the vendor’s own page on September 30, 2026, in the vendor’s currency; empty where that reading was not verified, “not published” where the vendor prints no renewal amount. The two columns come from different readings and are not combined.
The pricing pages behind these numbers
Each price here comes straight from the pricing page the vendor publishes. Those pages are listed below so that any figure can be checked at the source. Vendors change prices without warning, and when their page differs from ours, theirs is the one that counts.
What you really pay over 3 years
Year 1 at the first-year price, then years 2 and 3 at renewal. The cheapest first year is rarely the cheapest over three years.
Across the 7 suites with a published renewal price, renewals average 1.4x the first-year rate.
Real 3-year cost: the first year at the intro price, then two years at renewal. Yearly list prices for the plan we track. Vendors without a published renewal price are left out.
The trend
We could not measure the same providers in two consecutive months (11 and 14 and 12 providers), so a month-on-month figure would measure our own coverage instead of the market. We publish no trend until two months cover the same set. The individual prices above are each read from the provider’s own page and stand on their own.
Cite this data
According to the AntivirusShortlist Price Index, the average antivirus costs $5.88/mo as of October 2026 (https://antivirusshortlist.com/data/price-index).
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with attribution and a link. Machine-readable version:
https://antivirusshortlist.com/data/price-index.jsonHow much does antivirus cost per year?
Roughly $30 to $144 a year for the cheapest paid plan, based on the 15 suites we track as of October 2026. The average works out to $70.56 a year and the median to $50.04. Most vendors quote a discounted first year, so the second year is usually higher.
Why does antivirus get more expensive after the first year?
Because the price you see is an introductory rate. Across the 7 suites with a published renewal price, the second year averages 1.4x the first. The steepest jump we track is Norton 360 Deluxe, from $49.99 to $124.99 a year. The 3-year table on this page shows the real cost after that first-year discount.
What is a normal price for antivirus software?
Half of the 15 suites we track sit below $4.17 a month and half above, so the median is the fairest yardstick for a normal antivirus software price. The full range for a cheapest paid plan runs from $2.50 (Intego Mac Internet Security) to $12, and what you pay in year two averages 1.4x the first year.
What antivirus should cost, and when free is enough
The questions people search for alongside the price, answered from the same measurement.
How much should antivirus cost?
The median entry price across the 15 suites we track is $4.17/mo, or about $50.04 a year, so anything close to that is a normal price for a single paid plan. The figure that matters more is the second year: across the 7 suites that publish a renewal price, it averages 1.4x the first year. Judge an offer on the renewal, not on the introductory rate.
Is it worth paying for antivirus, or is the free one enough?
It depends on what you want beyond virus scanning. Microsoft Defender ships with Windows at no cost and scored a full 6 out of 6 for protection in AV-TEST's January to February 2026 round, so for a careful single-PC user it is a legitimate choice. What the paid suites add is bundled extras rather than raw detection: of the 15 paid suites here, 6 include a VPN and 2 include a password manager, and 7 cover three devices or more. If you do not need those, the $50.04 a year the median plan costs is buying you convenience, not safety you lack.
What makes one antivirus more expensive than another?
Three things, in the pricing we read. How many devices the plan covers, which is why the same brand can sell at several price points. Which extras are bundled, mainly a VPN (6 of 15 paid suites) and a password manager (2 of 15). And where the provider sets the renewal: the widest gap we track is Norton 360 Deluxe, which goes from $49.99 to $124.99 a year. Detection quality is tested by independent labs such as AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives, and it does not track price.
How much does antivirus cost for a business?
We do not have a figure for that, and it would be misleading to give one. Every price on this page is a consumer plan bought from the provider's own public pricing page. Business and enterprise licenses are sold per seat, usually with a device minimum and a quote, so they are not comparable with the numbers here. Use this index for home and single-user pricing only.
Methodology
For every provider we track, we take the lowest paid monthly price (the realistic entry price) and report the average, the median, and the cheapest and most expensive across the 15 options that sell a paid plan. Free tiers do not count toward the paid average.
These are guide prices, checked from time to time, and promotions move them, which is why we intend to re-measure them automatically and keep the history. The complete series is in the machine-readable feed.
This index feeds into our rankings as one input among several. The wider picture, including the sources we rely on and why commission never moves the order, is set out under how we rank.